


Burning Letters

by Medicore



Series: Hamliza Oneshots [6]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Anger, Angst, Broken Families, Broken Promises, Broken marriage, F/M, Guilt, I Love You, Marriage, Post-Reynolds Pamphlet, Sad, The Reynolds Pamphlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-01-28
Packaged: 2021-03-14 17:20:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29049795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Medicore/pseuds/Medicore
Summary: Eliza found out about Alexander's misdeeds.
Relationships: Alexander Hamilton & Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler, Alexander Hamilton/Elizabeth "Eliza" Schuyler
Series: Hamliza Oneshots [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2108793
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	Burning Letters

She should have known. She should have known that this was going to happen. She saw the signs, she was even warned by her older sister. But she chose to ignore it all, hoping that it wouldn’t happen, not to her. But it did. Of course it did. 

She clutched the pamphlet harder, staring as the ink text bled once her tears smacked onto the paper. How could he do this to her? Did he not love her as he said he did? All the signs came back to her. Alexander always came home late. Alexander always was in his office. Alexander didn’t want to spend time with her. Alexander was always looking so damn guilty whenever she saw him. At the time, Eliza just chalked it up to him working really hard in his office, trying to do well at his job. Eliza let out a crude scoff. He was working hard with something else, with someone else. 

I love you. He would murmur that phrase to her and the children. Before she didn’t think much of it, because why would she? Those were normal words you would say to your partner and children, because you loved them. Did Alexander not mean those words? Not with them, anyway. It made sense with the way he wouldn’t say those words first to them and the way he always hesitated before saying it back to them and the way his expression twisted barely but there was a sense he didn’t want to say those words and the way his voice was weird and scratchy and sounded like he was tearing up while choking, as if it hurt him to say. 

Eliza screamed in rage, crushing the paper in her hands. This wasn’t fair. This wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair. She had done everything she could for this man, and this was how he treated her back? By having an ongoing affair with this young woman who needed help and then telling the world about it before he even came to tell her. This was just cruel. So fucking cruel. 

The door to the house opened with a creak. Eliza froze. She knew who was at that door. The door closed and the familiar footsteps took a few steps forward. 

“Betsey?” 

“Don’t fucking call me that.” her voice was strong, she hardly even recognized it herself. She never swore, the two of them knew that. 

“Bets– Eliza. What is this? What’s going on?” Alexander’s voice also grew more firm as he made his way over to her. 

“You know what you fucking did, Alexander.” Eliza refused to meet his eyes. She didn’t want to stare into those eyes, the ones that she loved so much. The ones that now betrayed her, her trust, and her love. 

“Oh. Oh. Oh, my dear–”

“Don’t call me that. I am not your dear, Alexander. Judging from this horrible pamphlet of yours, you would rather use that word to describe someone else. A Maria Reynolds, the poor girl.”

She could have sworn Alexander had made a tiny scoffing sound. “Is that what you’re mad about? I’m so sorry, Bets– Eliza. I didn’t mean to.”

“What the fuck do you mean by that? You can’t accidentally have a continuous affair.” She glared at him. 

“Eliza, please calm down–”

“I’m sorry, Alexander, but no, I can’t just calm down. My husband, the one that vowed his love to me, has been cheating on me while lying to me and the children about how he felt about us. How will the children feel when they learn how their father, the man they all looked up to, has done this? How will they feel when they realize how badly you’ve hurt us? Sure, this pamphlet might have helped you, but in no way did it help anyone else. All you care about is yourself, I realize that now. I see it now. I see it in how your work always comes before your family, in how you thought to share this information to the whole world without telling me just to save your own back. The kids and I… we loved you. We loved you so much and we were sad whenever you weren’t around to join us and complete our family. And this is what we get. We get you ruining our lives in return. How could you do something like this, Alexander? How?” 

Tears streamed down her face as the fire in front of her burned brightly, snapping and crackling in the fireplace. She couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t believe that she was put into this situation by the man she married. A hand reached out to her. She moved and shoved it away. 

“Eliza, you know I love you! What about all the love letters I wrote to you?” Alexander asked. Eliza could hear the begging in his voice. 

She scoffed. “The love letters? That’s what you care about; that’s what you’re using to show me that you love me? Not any actions you’ve recently done? Is that because you haven’t done anything lately because you’ve been busy with other women? It’s like… all you care about is your work; is your writing. You like your letters because it’s easy for you. It’s easy for you to show people your old letters and how the words flow so beautifully into palaces and cathedrals and get them to think you love me deeply, despite what your current actions have told me. Those letters don’t mean anything to me anymore. They’re all just lies. You’re obsessed with your legacy, not even thinking about how us as a family is going to end up being your true legacy. When you end up dying, we’re going to be the ones who are telling your story.”

Eliza opened the old wooden box with Alexander’s old love letters in it. She picked one up and stared at it. Instead of the fluttering of her heart she would normally feel, she felt nothing. This letter was a lie. She stared into the fire and spoke, “With no letters to back you up, all they’ve got to show is that horrid pamphlet.”

“Eliza–” he reached out. She threw the letter into the fire, watching it burn. She heard Alexander gasp. She took out the letters one by one and burned them all. They meant nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

“Eliza, please, I’m so sorry. I love you, I really do. What can I do to make you forgive me?” He was pleading. Alexander was pleading. Eliza knew he was wanting his letters to stay intact. His writing was his greatest achievement and her burning of it without a care in the world was breaking him, she knew it. 

”Go away, Alexander. I can’t stand to be near you.” Her voice sounded slick with ice, but instead she was burning. It felt like her throat was burning with acid, the acid bubbling up and threatening to spew. She would have never possibly thought she would have to say such things to the man she married, but here she was. She was hurting, speaking those words, but she knew she had to. 

“Eliza–”

“Go away.”


End file.
